ADOT initiating recycling program at rest areas

The McGuireville rest area along I-17 is one of three rest areas participating in the recycling program. ADOT plans to expand the program to more sites.
June is turning out to be the month for rest area news…

The program involves partnering with recycling vendors to install 8-cubic-yard bins and smaller blue containers at the rest areas for travelers to use for their recyclable trash. The vendor will collect the recyclables at least once a week.

“With each site visit I make to our rest areas, I see how necessary recycling is,” said Bobby Wheeler, rest area manager for ADOT. “There are large amounts of plastic bottles and aluminum cans tossed in waste receptacles that go to a landfill without first being separated. We need to do the right thing and ensure recyclable materials are actually getting recycled.”

One of the vendors that will be collecting recyclables at the McGuireville rest area works with Rainbow Acres in Camp Verde to provide jobs for developmentally disabled adults sorting plastics and aluminum.

“A crew comes from the Rainbow Acres ranch five days a week where five ranchers and two of our staff members will sort all of the plastics and cans,” said Jill McCutcheon, executive director of Sedona Recycles, Inc. “We couldn’t do the work without this great group of people.”

The rest area recycling program is being implemented at no cost to ADOT. The recycling vendors will be overseen by Infrastructure Corporation of America, the private entity which manages the operation and maintenance of the rest areas through a public-private partnership with ADOT. ICA has been supportive in getting the recycling program in place and operational.

As more recycling vendors across the state join in the program, more rest areas will be able to participate. ADOT’s goal is to implement this program at all rest areas along the state highway system.

A map of rest area locations can be found in the Map Book at azdot.gov/maps.